Chapter 150: First Meetings / Dark Meetings

Awkward first meetings in Lioraeth’s living room were becoming something of a running tradition.

Even after Giselle and Yari had taken turns punching each other out, the air wasn’t nearly as tense as it was when Jiaoying showed up at the front door with her kids.

Tavian and Liora hadn’t taken their eyes off of Solomon or Yari since the moment their mother explained their relationship.

Liora was more surprised by the fact that her mother had somehow ended up dating two people instead of one, while Tavian was more stuck on the fact that one of her partners was a man a year younger than even him.

Jiaoying had been nowhere near ready to introduce the two halves of her life just yet, especially when things with her children had yet to be properly mended.

But after the incident with Raidis at her home, the children refused to leave their mother’s side. But as of yet, Jiaoying had yet to even explain who Raidis was, or what he wanted.

For two days now, any time that Jiaoying had been questioned about him, she responded to them as if they were still toddlers.

’Don’t worry. The bad man’s not coming back.’

Liora was ready to tear her own hair out of her scalp.

“I… I can’t believe that all of this has happened… because of me.”

In a far corner of the room, Yari was brought to tears over the revelation that Raidis had come to search for her.

She always thought he would come looking for her in some capacity, but she hardly thought he would stoop to the level of using Abel as a sword.

Her only respite was in the fact that nobody had died. If anyone had lost their life because of her… the guilt would have been insurmountable.

“Hey… This isn’t any of your fault in the slightest. If Raidis was willing to go this far then it’s all the better that we got you away from him when we did. He’s far too unstable.”

Jiaoying softly thumbed away Yari’s tears, pulling her into her embrace.

A subtle, teasing smile spread across her pink lips as their eyes met.

“I haven’t seen you in two days now, darling. There’s no need to go spoiling our reunion by blaming yourself for something that you bear no responsibility for. And don’t make another tragedy by spoiling this beautiful face with tears.”

Despite everything, Yari found herself letting a dry laugh slip past her lips.

“How can you honestly have the capacity to flirt at this moment..?”

“As I said. Not seeing the two of you for a few days has been quite the burden on me. Now that I’m in your company again I find myself feeling uniquely romantic.”

Jiaoying took the hands of both her lovers and held them as if she were never going to allow their release.

“…What about Abel?” Solomon asked after a long silence.

“He’s currently sitting inside a city prison with his cultivation sealed and rats for roommates. His only real request was that he get to talk to your brother.”

That was the other detail Solomon couldn’t quite move on from.

His brother was alive again. He breathed, walked, ate, and there was a satisfying feeling whenever Solomon punched him. He almost couldn’t believe what he was seeing.

“Did you do that..?” He turned to his elven love.

Yari shook her head at him. “I wouldn’t say that… He made the decision on his own. I believe he intended for it to be a surprise for you and Nila.”

“A surprise that would not have been possible without your genius. You are incredible, Yari.”

The elf blushed and put on a slightly haughty air. “My, my, all of this praise.. I assure you both, my ego is already quite healthy… You’re free to keep going though.”

Solomon smiled wolfishly as he kissed her without reservation. In response, Yari wrapped her arms around his neck and began running her fingers through his hair.

“Umm… Excuse me.”

Jiaoying grabbed both of her lovers by their jaws and redirected their gazes toward her.

“I’m glad you two are still all lovey-dovey and everything, but could you maybe focus some of that affection on the woman who hasn’t seen you recently?”

Solomon and Yari kissed her on both of her cheeks.

“Better.”

“Alright, that is enough!”

Tavian stood up abruptly and charged across the room toward the trio of lovers in the corner.

“You have been avoiding our questions for days, and you have been avoiding us for even longer! Sister and I have been patient thus far, but now the time has come for you to provide answers!”

Tavian pointed a finger at the two divinely attractive individuals holding on to his mother.

“For starters, who even are these two!? Where did you meet an elf, and why are you dating a man a year younger than even me! Also, why does he have a pet cerberus! And why is everyone acting like it’s a normal thing to have!?”

The knight swung his finger at Raizel next.

“And who is that young man! Why did you have an Olethros in your home?? Every time I try to ask for details about his identity, he just says-”

“I’m just the prettiest, most talented motherfucker you’ve ever seen in your life.” Raizel grinned.

“Exactly!”

Across the room, Nila was seated beside her mother. She’d had a slightly funny feeling in her chest ever since Raizel had first shown up with the others.

Sometimes, when she looked at him, she would catch him staring right back at her before she looked away.

All of the nonsense he’d said about them being married in a prior timeline suddenly came rushing back into her mind. She couldn’t so easily stomach it, so she did the only thing that made sense to her.

Freeing a metal knife from her pocket, she spun the weapon in her hand once before burying the blade in her thigh. A sigh of relief escaped her lips.

“Ah… Much better.”

Giselle’s brain overloaded from the sight, and she passed out right next to Bansha.

“Brother is only a bit frustrated because…. It’s like we don’t even know what’s going on with you anymore.”

Liora wheeled forward and stared up at her mother with bitterness on her lips.

“After… the accident… It’s like you just cut us off completely. We sent you letters, but you didn’t write back… You went on assignments for months at a time, Tavian couldn’t even catch a glimpse of you, and you both work for the same guy!”

Liora took her mother’s hand with both of her own and brought it to her chest.

“…We’re not like father. We know that you didn’t mean to hurt us, so.. You don’t have to keep us at arm’s length. We just want to understand…”

Jiaoying was not a woman made of stone. Far from it, actually.

Her daughter’s sincere plea may as well have been some form of truth spell. Because even if she had wanted to, Jiaoying would not have been able to stop herself from spilling her guts.

“…Okay, honey… I’ll tell you everything.”

“”Everything??”” Nila and Raizel asked from the sofa.

“Yes. Everything.”

–

Night had already fallen over the realm of Komen. The cool air was quiet, and the streets of Eirbane were mostly still.

Travel between the rifts had mostly petered out after midnight. This meant that guard duty should have been a much simpler task.

And yet, it wasn’t uncommon to find more men on duty at this time than at any other point during the day.

Many of the rougher, more criminal types would attempt to sneak out of the realm with any kind of stolen cargo.

This meant that the men had to be ever more vigilant in case of criminal activity.

It was young Nathan’s first shift of night watch. His nervousness was visible, and something all of his seniors had teased him for.

With all of the men on guard, but such light traffic between the realms, things naturally started to become a little more lax as the night went on.

And yet, young Nathan was just as rigid as a pole in a gentleman’s club.

*Whoosh!*

“H-Hey… I think I saw something just fly into one of the rifts..!”

Naturally, his concerns made the festivities come to a halt.

“…You say you saw somethin, huh?” One of the older soldiers asked gruffly.

“Y-Yes, sir, I think I saw something fly into that rift there!”

The young man pointed toward the rift of swirling green.

“…You idiot..!”

A hard metal-covered fist smacked the young man over the back of his head. “This fucking newbie! Somebody tell the brat to stop stirring up drama for nothing!”

Several more hands struck Nathan until he was seeing stars.

No one put an ounce of stock in his claim about seeing something fly into the Ilim rift.

Not only was it a sure uncertainty, but even if they did, it was a problem that would inevitably solve itself.

No one voluntarily entered the land of the elves. It was no different from voluntarily walking into the open jaws of death.

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